The other day I found a yoga DVD in J’s stuff and decided to try it out. Low and behold comes Indi and decides to give me some kisses since I was down at her level. There is nothing like trying to hold a pose when a dog stand in front of you wondering what the hell it is that you are doing and then decided to lick your face. As if kisses were not enough, she then decides to lay down on the mat. It was one hell of a funny scenario. So once I was done, just for fun, I had her do the pose that she knows as “yogy” which is just like downward dog in yoga world.
And then we did the “down” position which can be loosely compared to the child pose. It was not a good idea to share our adventure with daddy late because we got in trouble because miss Indi should have not been allowed on the mat. I am sure we will get into even more trouble when he sees these pictures! Hi J!!! Giggles!!!
J bought the above Vespa about a month ago. The helmet is mine, doesn’t it go well with the scooter? Isn’t she (the Vespa) pretty? He LOVES riding it. He has been having lots of fun. We both took a motorcycle class which consisted of both in classroom and on the range learning. It was fun and let me tell you the motorcycle part was not all that easy. I have to admit, the big cruisers and I did not get along and I had to actually go back a second time. I went back the following weekend and this time I had a much better instructor, Jessica. She was awesome and she explained thing well and was very patient.
Much to my chagrin a camera guy showed up and next thing I know they tell me that there is a reality star that is participating in the program that day. For the next couple of hours we had two cameras and a sound guy following us around and taping away. I was personally annoyed because the *star* was having a hard time on the bike and was holding us all back and we had to constantly wait for her. She could not even ride in a straight line and missed all the objectives. She was finally told to come back again. Just in case you are wondering, no I am not going to be on camera. I requested to not be shown. I think all this reality TV is so stupid and useless.
Anyway, back to my story. I went to the DMV yesterday and turned in my certificate of completion of the course and got my new driver’s license which reflects both class C and M1. How cool is that??!!!
Now you ask, have you been riding la bella Vespa? The short answer to that is no. The longer answer is I rode it around the block and it was awesome. However, I am too big of a chicken and I am scared. I am not necessarily scared of not knowing what to do. I feel that I learned a lot about how to control the bike, to lean when turning, keep your head up, look at the end of your turn, how to go over obsticles, and never break without straightening the bike. I’ve got all of those things down. What I am scared of is the fact that our vespa is a 250 and a little heavy for me and my biggest fear is other cars, and SUVs in particular. Most people know that I am not a fan of driving and the two accidents that I have had in the past 4 years have not helped. Neither one of those were my fault. The first one a girl ran a stop sign, hit me on the passenger side and totaled my car, affectionately known as blueberry. The second accident aronically happend exactly four years and 20 days later. I was stopped at a red light on my way to school when this guy slammed on his breaks and next thing I know his front hood was underneath the back of my car. See people come out of no where and hit me! According to J I turn into a nut when I drive and cuss at people left and right when they come too close or cut me off. So can you imagine the freak I would be if I were to ride a scooter when you HAVE to drive difensively???
I am working on getting myself to go for a ride and not freak out. Let’s face it these things don’t eat up gas like my wonderful CR-V does. J says la bella Vespa gets 60 miles per gallon. How sweet is that??!! That should be enough motivation for me!
Oh how excited am I that Taste Spotting is back! I am back viewing it on a regular basis and getting my daily fix of food porn! Thank you Internet Gods for giving us back such a wonderful site!
In honor of such event I am posting a salad that I made the other day with butter lettuce. About 20 years ago I went to a sheeshee foofoo restaurant in Beverly Hills which served entrecôte. The food was delicious and the presentation of their starter salad made an ever lasting impression on me. It was made with butter lettuce and the leaves were left attached and therefore presented like an open flower. It was a simple salad, only adorned with walnuts and a fabulous dressing.
I tried to make something similar, I had some Brie cheese and decided to experiment. I sauted the walnuts in a pan with some sugar and salt, for a sweet and salty flavor. Made a salad dressing with diced red onion, rice vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Then arranged the walnuts and cheese on the salad and poured the dressing over it. It was simple, different form a regular salad, and delicious.
The beauties above were almost mine. We went shopping while in the hot desert. I immediately fell in love with them and they were actually 50% off. In the back of my mind I knew I shouldn’t because of the “Gentle Giant’s,” aka I only need and own three pairs of shoes, house rule about shoes: you can buy a pair as long as you get rid of a pair. It all started because my shoes are currently stored in three different closets in the house. I contemplated and in the end I could not think about a pair that I would want to give up….and truth be told, the shoes were a half size big. So I gave them up and went across the store and bought J a few shirts instead.
I still am entitled to day dream about them though!!!! I showed J the picture above and he also agreed that they are pretty!!! Men just don’t understand how us women feel about shoes. There is a serious dose of happiness that comes with buying shoes. In theory I could buy a pair of shoes and sneak them into one of the closets. But I am too honest and the guilt would kill me.
Happy 4th of July everyone and we hope that all the doggies out there are safe today. Princess Indi has been doing well. We went on a two hour walk in the late afternoon and she has been napping ever since. She has done very well througout the loud fireworks around here which I am glad about because I was worried about how she was going to react to it all.
Today is the 3rd of July which means I have been in the US for 18 years….wow, where did the past 18 years go??!!
I have been chilling, so to speak since it is soo freaking hot, in the desert and hanging out with friends. The cuteness above is what we found in our bathroom. I had never seen such an elaborate bathroom presentation before and had to take pictures right away.
Want to know how to keep a kid, a teenager, two adults, AND a dog entertained all at once? Then you need to watch this video:
I think this is the most fun Indi has had so far at our family gatherings. It doesn’t stop there, there is more!
Oh no, someone has invaded Indi’s traveling crate who can it be? What is going on in there?
My adorable teenage cousin DD, who is growing up way to fast and will be taller than me any day now, found himself a safe place to hang out away from the rest of us. It was all good until Indi noticed him and decided to join him inside, with plenty of support and encouragement by the rest of us by standers!
Oh how I LOVE homemade burgers, they are just so good. I had some left over ground beef, pesto, and mozzarella, and decided to make homemade burgers. What makes these burgers the ultimate burgers you ask? There is a little surprise in the middle. I mixed the ground beef with some fresh diced red onions, garlic, and seasoned with salt and pepper. The surprise part was shredded mozzarella cheese mixed with the pesto which I put in the middle of each burger. Then I grilled them on Georgie. YUUUMMMYYYY! Yet another fast and delicious meal on Georgie!
I bought a sewing machine because I decided that the price that they charge you for curtains is ridiculous and it is hard to find fabric that you really like as curtains. So we decided that we would make our own by finding a fabric that we liked and take it from there. There have also been times when I really wished that I had a sewing machine in the past. The time was right and I gave myself a graduation present. This is a cool machine which comes with 70 different stitches. So I went to work and my first project was a bandanna for Tucker. Indi got one too since I had some left over material.
Then I decided to get ambitious and make a homemade gift for my mom’s cousin’s bday. I made him the linen napkins above. The project took me for EVER. I first cut the linen in squares, then I folded the edges and went over them with the iron to make them stay in place, sewed the edges and then used a different stitch for each napkin to keep things fun. I love the tread that I used, it is very fun and colorful.
Overall, it was a rather nerve racking project. I had to focus a lot to make sure that whatever I did was in a straight line and that it came out nice. It took me a good 5-6 hours for the whole project, made a few mistakes along the way, and learned plenty from my mistakes and from J who apparently took a sewing class in high school ( SO FREAKING sexy, a man that knows how to work a sewing machine!).
I was actually pretty impressed with myself because the end result was decent and more than anything it was a homemade gift made with lots of love!! I must say though I learned the ironing part from a blog when I did some research on the internet. I love this blogging business, it has given creative people the opportunity to showcase their creations and share them with the rest of the world! Along the way it has also given us an opportunity to learn from each other.
